Brother
by MouHitoriNoKei
Summary: Shigure reflects on the death of a certain Sohma. Includes some language...no biggie. No flamers...and PLEASE RR.


Hooray! Here's my first Fruits Basket fic! *Jumps up and down* This was a cure for boredom and something to keep me awake. Well, I hope you enjoy. Reviews would be appreciated, and flames suck...but anyway...I hope you like! 

Kyo: Well, as you all know, this spazz doesn't own me or Fruits Basket...

YOU BIG MEANIE, MEATBALL HEAD! 

Kyo: *Smacks head* Moron....

-

"Brother"

"Well, you knew it was coming..." The dark haired man didn't seem surprised as he spoke, his voice almost engulfed in sarcasm. Smiling slightly, he peered up at the man who stood next to him, looking up through a curtain of ebony hair.

"You're not the least bit disturbed by it?" The other man spoke, his jade eyes glistening along with the stars. Lighting a cigarette, he let it stick out of his mouth before it was stolen away from him.

Shaking his head, he took a long drag on the stolen cigarette, blowing out small rings of ashen smoke that drifted away into the night. "No. I knew it was coming, and it's not that big of a lose, really."

"Shigure!" He hissed at the cigarette thief, a look of shock upon his face.

"Jesus, Hatori! You knew it, I knew it, hell, everyone knew it! He was going to die sooner or later, the sooner the better!" 

Brushing the hair away from his left eye, he looked upon him, the eye gleaming with a glasslike quality. "What the hell has gotten into you?!"

"Why is it such a big deal that I have finally realized what an asshole he was?!"  
"Shigure!!"Hatori snarled, looking to the man who was only a few months younger then he was. "You're acting very strange..." He rose, stealing back his smoke, taking the final drag on it, throwing it down and stomping an angry foot on it. "You may be at the old age of 27, but you're acting like Momiji!"

"Someone call me?!" The blonde haired boy with the bright, chestnut eyes poked his head through the sliding door, literally, with a grin.

"Damn it..." Shigure sighed, glaring into space. "I gotta fix that stupid thing now..." 

Momiji looked up to Hatori with a boyish grin. "Tori-san, what's wrong with Shi-chan?"

"Since when do _you_ call me Shi-chan?" The man barked as Momiji whimpered, latching on to the stunned Hatori.

"Tori-san!" The blonde boy whined, clinging to the elder man. "Shi-chan is being mean!"

Rising, he glared a hole through the child, fire burning in his dark, abysmal eyes. "STOP CALLING ME THAT!" The child's eyes enlarged with sadness as he ran back inside, away from the man who was not Shi-chan, but Shigure. With the whimpering fading into the night, Hatori looked on to the man in front of him.

"You're a monster, Shigure. A heartless bastard who can't take the lose of a family member without lashing out at someone else." Hatori sneered, turning his back on his friend and leaving, taking the sobbing Momiji by his delicate, childlike hand.

He was left alone now, with only the thoughts of the one who had just passed hours before. He cared not for Hatori's opinion on his attitude. How would he understand what was going through his mind at the very moment those words reached his ears? He knew nothing of what was happening now.

He let thoughts run deep long into the night, the younger ones retreating off to a peaceful night sleep. The navy blue sky slowly reverted to the blackest of black, the underside of a raven's wing. He sat alone, lighting cigarette after cigarette, taking drag after drag, savoring the bitter taste of relief. He sighed deeply, putting out the sixth cigarette, looking up at the faded stars.

"He shoulda called..." He spoke to himself, laughing a bit. "Is he really that stubborn, not wanting to talk to his own brother about it...It's not like it wasn't obvious. Mother threw it in my face every chance she got, saying how I should be nice to my little brother, seeing how he would die early." Running shaking fingers through his hair, he let a few tears slide down pale cheeks. "And, I didn't believe her. How could a kid so young be so close to death?"

"He wasn't born a kid, Shigure. He was born an adult, inching closer and closer to death." A voice from behind him brought a slight grin to his face.

"I thought you were sleeping, Kyo."

Taking a spot next to his elder cousin, he sighed. "You thought wrong, dog boy." With crimson eyes, he peered over at him and laughed a short laugh. "So, you and _him_ are brothers...?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Lighting yet another cigarette, he slipped it under his lips, taking a drag. "We never got along, well, until now. We were always so distant, our mother being a bit too overprotective of him. He remained in the main house all his life while I came here and made a living. He grew so bitter, wondering why I could escape the house and he was forced to live alone. He used to be a sweet kid..."

"Yeah, well, what more can ya do?" The cat grinned, taking the smoke from Shigure, taking a drag and blowing out two perfect smoke rings. "Watch the rings, Shigure. Ya see how at first, they flow together but, as the wind blows, they part and fade? See? That's like you and...him. Both of you drifted away, and he was the first to fade."

"Since when did you become the poet of the family?"

"Since you started caring about something you shouldn't." Taking another drag, the cat grinned, putting the cigarette back in Shigure's mouth. "Think about it." Kyo retreated inside with a smile as Shigure returned to thinking. The night was still young and envious of the upcoming morning. He grinned, Kyo's words sinking in.

"Akito, my brother...My baby brother." He held in tears, but to no avail. A few crystalline tears rolled down his cheeks, yet, he smiled. He smiled through this pain that tore through his heart and his soul. Such a gentle thing it was. "My brother..." He dropped to his knees, being weighed down by a heavy heart. "....Brother....."


End file.
